Resources

Many resources exist for sustainable theatre-making — here are some I’ve collected.

*indicates my highest recommendations

Documents

• Theatre Green Book* - UK theatre sector collaboration

  • Selected resources:

    • Sustainable Productions Toolkit 

    • Green Book 

• Green Theatre Toolkits - Broadway Green Alliance

  • Selected Resources:

    • Reusing, Recycling, & Sourcing Theatrical Materials

    • Venues & Theatres

    • Production*

    • A Guide to Closing Greener

• Production Guides - Julie’s Bicycle

  • Selected Resources:

    • Sustainable Production Guide*

    • Practical Guide: Productions and Exhibitions 

    • Green Theatre Report: Taking Action on Climate Change 

• Green Theater Choices Toolkit* - Mo’olelo Performing Arts Company

  • The toolkit contains scorecards rating the sustainability of various materials and their impacts on human health.

• The Sustainable Production Toolkit* - Banta, Gaston, Goldmark, and Morris

Websites

• Resources:

  • Green Theater: Getting Started - Ellen E. Jones

  • Green Theatre: A Reference Guide - American Theatre

  • For the Planet - Lily Wieland Stage Manager

    • Written by a stage manager, this blog series offers an inside look at greener theatre practices. 

    • Also see Wieland’s article The Best Resources for Practicing Sustainable Theatre

  • Sustainable Approaches to Theatre Making - Royal Holloway, University College London

  • Tips for green, more sustainable shows - the Guardian

  • Energy Efficient Lighting: Green Practices in Theatre Part 1 - Theatre Art Life

  • How Green is Your Theatre? Environmental improvements to historic performance venues - Building Conservation

• Case Studies

  • Sustainable Theatre Practices: Producing Dark Water - St. Lawrence University

  • Undertaking energy studies for theatres to reduce energy consumption - Arup

  • Arcola Theatre Energy Report - Arcola Theatre

  • Designing out waste: Using the arts to create a circular economy - Creative Scotland

  • Zero waste theatre seeks to show we all can act for change - Reuters

  • Make theatre, not waste - American Theatre

  • Wasted: Material use in the theatre - Six by Eight Press

  • Healing the Earth, One Play at a Time - Oregon Shakespeare Festival

•  Miscellaneous

  • What is Ecotheater? - Superhero Clubhouse

  • Measuring sustainability within the theatrical lighting industry - ETC Connect

  • Energy Efficiency and the Shadows of Drama: Exploring the Intersection of Energy Conservation and Theater Arts - Coohom

  • Circular Creativity: How the Arts are Redefining Waste - Medium

  • The Carbon Footprint of Your Entertainment! Part I – Movies, Television & The Stage - Swrm

Databases + Tools

• IG Creative Climate Tools + Carbon Calculator - Julie’s Bicycle

  • Arts-industry focused carbon calculator that can track impact areas like energy, water, and waste. 

• Stuff in Cycles

  • Created by two stage designers, this open source project serves as a database for sustainable materials (available in English and German)

Books

• A Practical Guide to Greener Theatre* by Ellen E. Jones and Jessica Pribble

• Harvesting Color: How to Find and Make Natural Dyes by Rebecca Burgess

• Theatre and Environment by Vicky Angelaki

• Materials for Design by Chris Lefteri

• Ecodramaturgies: Theatre, Performance, and Climate Change* by Lisa Woynarski

• Earth Matters on Stage: Ecology and Environment in American Theater by Theresa J. May

• Sustainable Theatre: Theory, Context, Practice by Iphigenia Taxopoulou

• Ecoscenography: An Introduction to Ecological Design for Performance by Tanja Beer

• Arts and Cultural Leadership: Creating Sustainable Arts Organizations by Kenneth Foster

• The Future Is Not Fixed: Short Plays Envisioning a Global Green New Deal compiled by Chantal Bilodeau

• Staging the End of the World: Theatre in a Time of Climate Crisis by Brian Kulick

• Lighting the Way: An Anthology of Short Plays About the Climate Crisis compiled by Chantal Bilodeau and Thomas Peterson

Organizations

• Broadway Green Alliance

  • The alliance aims to push the entire theatre industry to implement more sustainable practices; the site contains a breadth of resources.  

• Ecostage

  •  The grassroots initiative provides designers with resources for making their work more sustainable, as well as a manifesto for ecological theatre-making. 

• Final Strike Collaborative 

  • This New York-based nonprofit upcycles used set materials into art, furniture, decor, and more – learn more about their story here. 

• Fibershed

  • Fibershed works to develop regional fiber systems that benefit local communities and ecosystems through climate-positive agriculture, education, and advocacy. 

• Julie’s Bicycle*

  • The UK-based nonprofit concentrates on inspiring the arts to take action on the climate crisis. 

• STAGES (Sustainable Theatre Alliance for a Green Environmental Shift)

  • STAGES is a European Union-funded theatre network that aims to stage sustainable performances about the climate crisis. 

Why Go Green?

• Broadway Green Alliance

  • Making the Case for Sustainability 

  • Why Be Green?

Scholarly Articles

• Balcare, Kitija. 2023. “Reduce, Reuse, or Refuse? Pioneering Sustainability in the Theatre Scene in Latvia.” Nordic Theatre Studies, 34 (1), 109–126. https://doi.org/10.7146/nts.v34i1.137929 

• Beer, Tanja and Dominque Hes. 2017. "Sustainability in production: Exploring eco-creativity within the parameters of conventional theatre," Behind the Scenes: Journal of Theatre Production Practice, 1 (1) https://via.library.depaul.edu/bts_journal_of_theatre_production_practice/vol1/iss1/4 

• Bilodeau, Chantal. “Chapter Thirteen: Hit Me Where It Hurts: The Intersection of Theater and Climate Change.” In Extraordinary Partnerships: How the Arts and Humanities Are Transforming America, edited by Christine Henseler, 215-232. Amherst: Lever Press, 2020, https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3998/mpub.11649046.17. 

• Dalton, Valerie and Ray Cooksey. 2019. “Becoming a Sustaining Organisation: The Case of Greening the Wharf at Sydney Theatre Company and Its Impacts.” Clean, Green and Responsible? https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21436-4_9 

• Hassall, Linda and Stephen Rowan. 2019. “Greening Theatre Landscapes: Developing Sustainable Practice Futures in Theatre Graduates.” University Initiatives in Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89590-1_9 

• Jurić, Kristian, and Gerhard Vogel. 2005. “Does Immaterialization Satisfy the Sustainability Imperative? A Life Cycle Approach.” Consumption: The Contribution, (January), 267. https://ntnuopen.ntnu.no/ntnu-xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/242699/126148_FULLTEXT01.pdf?sequence=1#page=273. 

• Law, Matt, et al. “The Last Hurrah (and The Long Haul): Co-Creation of Theatre as Climate Change Education.” Journal of Geography in Higher Education 45, no. 4 (2021):. 549–62. https://doi.org/10.1080/03098265.2020.1849064. 

• Oman, Katie. 2014. “Stage Lighting and the Environment.” Lighting and Sound America. https://www.lightingandsoundamerica.com/reprint/EnvironmentStageLight.pdf.

• Tengström, Johan, and Francisco Izurieta. 2010. “LCA of Stage Performances: Life Cycle Analysis of an Opera and a Stage Performance.” Division of Environmental Systems Analysis at Chalmers University of Technology. https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12380/141433.